The present invention relates generally to electrical components, methods for making electrical components and machines employing electrical components. In particular, it relates to three dimensional electrical components comprising an electrically insulating polymer matrix which is capable of heat conversion to an electrically conducting polymer matrix where at least one electrically conductive path is formed in situ between the first side and second side of the polymer matrix. More specifically, the three dimensional electrical component may be a two-sided circuit board or a frame or structural member in a machine such as automatic reproducing machines including office copiers, duplicators and printers.
In a typical electrostatographic reproducing machine, a photoconductive insulating member is uniformly charged and exposed to a light image which discharges the exposed or background areas and creates an electrostatic latent image on the member corresponding to the image contained within the original document. Alternatively, a light beam such as a laser beam may be modulated and used to selectively discharge portions of the photoconductive surface to record the desired information thereon. The electrostatic latent image is made visible by developing the image with developer powder referred to in the art as toner which may be subsequently transferred to a support surface such as paper to which it may be permanently affixed by heating pressure or the application of heat and pressure.
In commercial applications of such products it is necessary to distribute power and/or logic signals to various sites within the machine. Traditionally, this has taken the form of utilizing conventional wires and wiring harnesses in each machine to distribute power and logic signals to the various functional elements in an automated machine. While the conventional approach has been immensely effective in producing convenience products, with increasing demands on manufacturing cost and the desire for automated assembly, different approaches have to be provided. For example, since individual wires and wiring harnesses are inherently very flexible, they do not lend themselves to automated assembly such as with the use of robotics. Furthermore, such harnesses may have to be handled or moved several times to make all connections required. This is a highly labor intensive task frequently requiring routing of the several harnesses through channels and around manually with the final connections being also accomplished manually thereby resulting in potential human error in the assembly. The potential for human error is reduced with the use of automated and in particular robotic assembly. In addition to the relatively high labor costs associated with harness construction and installation of electrical wiring harnesses it is well to note that there are less than totally reliable in producing their intended function. Furthermore, and with increasing sophistication of the capabilities of such products, a plurality of wiring harnesses may be required in any individual machine which can require a large volume of space thereby increasing the overall size of the machine. Accordingly, there is a desire to provide an alternative to the conventional wiring and wiring harnesses that overcomes these difficulties.